04:14 AM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Next time you shop at Belkin, make sure to use a 50% off coupon code - 12345. Yes, 50% off for ANY Belkin item.

Be quick as I am not sure for how long the discount works!

Related to this: Office Depot is running a Buy 1, Get 1 Free sale this week on Belkin PDA accessories.

01:34 PM by sUnShInE in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Tapwave has officially announced that their award-winning Zodiac products and games for the Zodiac will be available in CompUSA stores nationwide starting next month. CompUSA has inked an exclusive deal with the up-and-coming Tapwave for distribution, new system software, tons of new games, and even Mac support for the Zodiac system.

According to the Tapwave press release, "In addition to launching at retail, Tapwave will release up to 10 new premiere titles by the end of the year, along with 60 to 75 Tapwave Certified titles, such as MicroQuad (arcade/racing game), Hellfire: Apache vs. Hind (helicopter combat game), Orbz (action arcade) and Acedior (RPG)."

The Zodiacs come in two different confirgurations, the Zodiac1 for $299, with 32MB RAM; and the Zodiac2 for $399 with 128MB RAM. Both units feature an ATI® Imageon™ graphics accelerator and Motorola® i.MX1™ ARM 9 processor, and "[i]n the near future, the Commodore 64® engine will be available for the Zodiac, and will be supporting Bluetooth multiplayer play."

For more info on the company and its current line of products, check out their website, or stop into CompUSA next month!

12:47 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

PC Pro magazine tested 18 different MP3 players, and concluded that there were several lesser-known brands that noticeably outperformed the iPod.

According to the writer, "[t]he iPod is over-priced when compared with these competitors," and "[i]t also falls down on battery life, with some portable MP3 players lasting three times as long, while its lack of support for Windows Media files will upset many PC users".

Its recommendations instead: iRiver iHP-100 Series, Rio Karma, Rio Nitrus, iRiver iFP-300 Series, and the iRiver iFP-500 Series.

09:41 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Geekzone has a review of PalmOne's new trendset PDA Zire 72.

From the review, "the screen is, as with all the new PalmOne screens, gorgeous. You can't dim it as much as the T3, which makes it a little bright at night, but that's the only fault I can find with it. As for the processor – it plays Sonic the Hedgehog (via GuineaPig) only slightly slower than my 400Mhz T3, a nicety of the new PXA270. Sound is very similar to that of the T3 – solid, but nothing particularly special." Sounds nice, especially for $299 ESP.

Only drawback is that the device has no Wifi support, which I consider obligatory for my use (I personally don't care for BT).

09:14 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

According to Reuters, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill on Wednesday that would outlaw "upskirt" photos and other forms of video voyeurism made possible by cell-phone cameras and other miniaturized technology.

The Inquirer goes even one step farther and predicts the end of the mobile phone business if the banning of cell phones continues. It concludes:

"Genuine fad for true sneak "intimate" photography of ordinary pictures is most unlikely to become widespread. The resulting images are unlikely to be even vaguely erotic, and boredom would set in quickly. But the law prohibiting such devices may rest on many statute books for many years, nonetheless."

07:45 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | iSilo/X

Roderick Pommier posted a nice review of iSilo for PPC at pocketnow.com. His conclusion: "Isilo is an indispensable part of my Pocket PC arsenal, if you frequently find interesting web content Isilo is a must buy. Isilo also gives you access to hundreds of documents already converted to Isilo."

Pros

• Handles website conversion very well
• New features are frequently added
• Excellent functionality as reader
• Highly configurable, many options available to customize your experience

Cons

• Not able to update content without desktop companion
• Feature set can be intimidating at first
• More options on for customizing screen regions, perhaps closing the document or go full screen

06:35 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

At PocketPC Addict, I stumbled over a comprehensive review of Netfront Access 3.1 for PPC. The author Brad Isaac comes to the - unsurprising - conclusion: "Netfront finally makes browsing with the Pocket PC easy and enjoyable...I recommend it if you are wanting to bring a taste of powerful desktop browsing to your Pocket PC."

11:59 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

According to information leaked to AppleInsider, the next Apple iPod is due sometime this year with added video capabilities.

"When a user connects one end of the video-cable into the iPod's new dock connector and the other end into the TV, it will switch the iPod into video mode," the source said, which then allows the user to display video clips located in the iPod's 'movies' directory.

In other words, the iPod v4.0 is not a movie player by itself, but a remote harddrive with playback capabilities to an external video source.